Egypt News By Asfory
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Egypt’s 79-year-old President Hosni Mubarak urged people in an interview published on Friday to ignore recent rumours of his ill-health, saying they were politically motivated.

“These rumours do not interest me. I continue my work without paying attention to such rumours whose sources and goals we know,” Mubarak told the state-owned Al-Ahram daily, calling on Egyptians to “ignore such talk.”

“The illegitimate movements behind these recent rumours do not want stability for the people, and have no aim but to detract from the achievements of Egypt and its people,” he said in an indirect reference to the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest opposition group in the country.

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The Bush administration has challenged a report for the US Congress which says Iraq has met only three of the 18 targets used to measure progress.
The Government Accountability Office findings contrast with a White House study saying eight goals have been met.

The Pentagon said the GAO portrayed the situation only in “blacks and whites” and ignored “grey” areas of progress.

The report is the first in a series of assessments over the next month of the success of the US troop surge in Iraq.

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المالكي بقرار الزعيم الشيعي مقتدى الصدر تجميد نشاطات مليشيا جيش المهدي التابعة له بالقول إن القرار يفتح الباب امام مليشيات اخرى في العراق للقيام بنفس الخطوة.

وقالت الحكومة العراقية، في أول رد فعل رسمي على قرار تجميد نشاطات مليشيا جيش المهدي، ان هذه المبادرة تعتبر “خطوة مشجعة على طريق تثبيت الأمن والاستقرار في كافة أنحاء البلاد وفرصة مناسبة لتجميد عمل باقي المليشيات بشتى انتماءاتها السياسية والفكرية حفاظا على وحدة واستقلال وسيادة العراق”.

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شارك الالاف في قطاع غزة في مسيرات مناهضة لحماس بالرغم من حظر الأخيرة للتظاهرات والتجمعات في الأماكن العامة.

وقد خرج المتظاهرون بعد صلاة الجمعة ووردت تقارير عن اصطدامهم بأفراد القوة التنفيذية التابعة لحماس ووقوع جرحى.

ونظم الاف المناوئين لحركة حماس صلاة الجمعة في الأماكن العامة متهمين حماس بانتهاك الحريات المدنية واستخدام المساجد لنشر الدعاية السياسية.

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Three Palestinian children, who were killed by an Israeli artillery shell in the northern Gaza Strip three days ago, were playing near a rocket launcher when they were struck by the shell, the Israeli military admitted Friday.

An initial Israeli military probe into the death of the three cousins aged 8, 9 and 12 found that they were playing “really close” to the rocket launcher that was being targeted by Israel, a military spokesman said.

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توفي ثمانية اشخاص بمرض الكوليرا في شمال العراق، كما اصيب 80 شخصا بالمرض وادخلوا المستشفيات لتلقي العلاج.

وتقول السلطات الصحية المحلية إن هناك حوالي اربعة آلاف حالة يعاني اصحابها من الاسهال الحاد، ويشتبه بأنها إصابات بالمرض.

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Israeli divers have found the bodies of two sailors missing in the Mediterranean after an Israeli cargo ship was hit by a Cypriot cruise liner.
The Slovakian men were found inside the sunken ship, Shelly, 2.5km (1.9 miles) from the Israeli port of Haifa.

The discovery followed an intensive search that included six Israeli navy boats and several military aircraft.

Eleven other members of the Shelly’s crew were rescued by the navy shortly after the collision on Thursday.

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اعربت السفارة السويدية في العاصمة الباكستانية اسلام آباد عن اسفها لنشر احدى الصحف السويدية رسما كارتونيا للنبي محمد، بعد ان اعربت باكستان عن استيائها للرسم الذي اظهر النبي محمد برأس انسان وجسد كلب.

وقالت الحكومة السويدية إنها تأسف عن اي اذى تسبب فيه هذا الرسم، لكنها لا تستطيع الاعتذار لانها ليست المسؤولة عن الرسم، ولا تستطيع وقف نشره.

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Human rights group Amnesty International said Friday it was “greatly concerned” by the arrest of two Egyptian lawmakers from banned Islamist opposition group the Muslim Brotherhood.

The London-based organisation condemned the detention last week north of Cairo of Ragab Abu Zeid and Saber Amer, who had their parliamentary immunity lifted earlier this year.

“Amnesty International is greatly concerned by the recent arrests, detention and prosecution on terrorism-related charges of leading members of the Muslim Brotherhood, apparently because of their peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of association and assembly,” it said in a statement.

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Four student members of Egypt’s banned Muslim Brotherhood who disappeared several weeks ago are being held on charges of belonging to an Al-Qaeda linked group, a security source told AFP on Thursday.

The Islamists, missing since July 18, are accused of belonging to a jihadi group with links to Al-Qaeda and are now being questioned by the examining magistrate for state security, the source said.

The Brotherhood, Egypt’s main opposition group, said on August 6 that police had tortured and then “disappeared” the four men: Mohammed Ahmed Mohammed Imam and his brother Mustafa, Mohammed Ali Farid Suleiman and Mohammed Mohammed Assem Mohammed.

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